Tuesday, May 8, 2018

They might have wanted to check with Recode's Kara Swisher first. More after the jump.
From Digiday:

Vice Media has bought a Brooklyn-based events production company as
the publisher eyes producing more events for its editorial properties
and advertising clients.

Vice Media’s president of digital Josh Cogswell wouldn’t say how much
Vice paid for Villain, which is based close to Vice’s headquarters in
the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The events producer, which employs
12 people, produces more than 300 events annually, ranging from live
music performances to branded “experiential” events, said Vice. In the
past, Villain has produced and managed campaigns and festivals for
advertising including PepsiCo, Rockstar Games and Red Bull Music
Academy. Villain also owns a 15,000 square foot warehouse space in
Williamsburg, which it’s used for public and private events.

Announcing the acquisition during its NewFronts presentation Friday
afternoon, Vice is putting a greater emphasis on its ability to produce
live events and activations for advertising clients. The company is no
stranger to hosting events sponsored by brands, but the Villain
acquisition will allow Vice to expand its work in this area with a help
of a team with a proven track record, said Cogswell.

“Demand [from advertisers] for experiential offerings is very, very
high, and we’re proud to have a reputation in the industry as a team
that can activate unique and immersive expressions for brands interested
in reaching young audiences,” Cogswell added....MORE

Kara Swisher, cofounder of the tech news site Recode, talked with Aditi Sangal of Digiday about how the site makes money through events and is exploring other venues.
Here is an excerpt:

Events are difficult to grow
“Conferences are not a scale game. It’s like putting on a Broadway show.
They can be very profitable, but our conferences are dependent on Walt [Mossberg], Peter Kafka
and I. That’s a problem. But you can only do so many of those. It takes
a while to make those. Scaling is hard, but it’s a nice little
business.”

Pivoting to TV
“The way cable is set up is such a reductive screamfest. You learn
nothing. I believe in substantive conversations. I was angry about the
tech industry. I was very interested in the future of work. So I said,
let’s talk to Google, Facebook and other people who are making the
future. Let’s have town halls with real people. We don’t have to have
solutions, but let’s talk. Because who is responsible? We’ll see if it
works on TV.”

How Recode thinks about their eventsAs events become an essential part of many media companies' business models, some brands are more successful than the others. Recode events are one of the success stories. We find out more about how they think about their events....MORE